Falling For the Toerag
by sorrybut
Summary: thie was originally phoenixfire625's story but I'm picking it up with her permission. Basically James will get 50 galleons if Lily will go out with him, but will he fall in love with her in the process? I've made some changes, review please
1. Chapter 1

"NO! Not the penguins!"

James Potter awoke with a start. "Sirius, shut the hell up," he told his best friend Sirius Black irritably, and threw a pillow at him.

Remus Lupin, his other best friend, was awake now too. "Is he having his penguin dream again?" he asked drowsily.

"Yeah."

"Sirius, shut up!" Remus said, and buried his head in his pillow.

James laughed; Sirius was out of his mind. He was sure why his best friend kept having nightmares about penguins, and frankly, he wasn't sure if he wanted to know. "Sirius, you prat, we have class in the morning."

"But the penguins – " he muttered.

"Are going back to their glaciers to sleep, like everyone else. Now be quiet."

"Okay..." A minute later, Sirius' loud snores could be heard once more.

James sighed and tried to go back to sleep, but the events of the day before kept replaying in his mind.

_James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were sitting under one of the many trees next to the lake, watching some girls from their year splashing in the water._

"_Hey," Sirius said suddenly, his metallic silver eyes resting on a short redhead, "Wanna make a bet, James?"_

"_Sure," he had replied in a bored tone. Sirius had recently discovered that he fancied making bets with random people. James knew he would come to him eventually. "What is it?"_

_He continued to stare at the redhead for a moment, before replying, "You think you can get any girl in this school to go out with you, right?"_

"_Yeah," James replied. "And your point would be…?"_

"_I know one you couldn't." His eyes sparkled mischievously. _

"_Who?" James demanded. _

"_I bet you couldn't get Lily Evans to go out with you."_

_James was taken aback. "Evans? Why would I want to go out with her?" _

_James had to admit that Lily was exceptionally pretty, with her waist length dark red hair, cream colored skin and bright emerald green eyes, but she had an awful temper and wasn't exactly fond of him. Plus, James was pretty sure that Remus had a crush on her, even if he wouldn't admit it. _

"_Well… if you're **that** scared…" Sirius had taunted. _

"_I'm not scared. I could get her to go out with me like that," James said, snapping his fingers for emphasis._

"_Prove it. Get Lily Evans to go out with you by next week or you lose the bet."_

"_What's in it for me?"_

"_Um… fifty galleons," Sirius decided._

"_Sirius, you git, you don't have fifty galleons," James chuckled, Sirius didn't hold onto money for too long._

"_I do too," he had replied resentfully. _

"_Where?"_

"_Gringotts."_

"_Well, when I win you're going there to get it," James said, and extended his hand. "Deal?"_

"_Deal," Sirius smirked, and shook his hand. Sirius looked back over at the pretty redhead. "James Potter, you are going down."_

Now that James thought back on it, making that bet had been a very stupid thing to do. There wasn't much of a chance that Lily was going to go out with him… unless he talked to Phoenix.

Alice Howard had been Lily's best friend since they met First Year, and since she's was also quite close to Sirius, she was an honorary Marauder as well as one of James' best friends. Alice would help him. Maybe. He hoped so anyway.

**0o0o0o0o0oo0o0o0o0o0**

"Alice, what are you doing?" Lily Evans asked laughing as Alice started stripping off her robes down by the lake.

"I'm going swimming, what does it look like?"

"It's only seven in the morning," Lily pointed out. "Won't you be cold?"

Alice sighed. "Lils, it's the end of June. I don't think I'll be cold."

"Whatever you say," Lily muttered sarcastically, and plopped down on the shore.

"What do you think you're doing?"

Lily looked at her strangely. "…sitting."

"No you're not! You're coming swimming with me. Take off your robes."

"I'm not wearing a suit!" Lily protested.

Sighing, Alice sat down next to Lily. "Lily-Billy, don't you ever just do something random and crazy?"

"Nope."

Alice shook her head and disbelief, then looked up and gave her that mischievous smile of hers. "Well, starting today you are!" Without warning, Alice picked up Lily, threw her into the murky water, and jumped in after her in her blue bikini.

Gasping for air, Lily surfaced and screeched, "Alice, you twit! I'm still in my robes!"

"That's why we have magic, silly," she replied. "To dry things." Phoenix laughed evilly and dunked Lily underwater.

When Lily reached the surface again, she stayed turned in the opposite direction of Alice, pretending to be mad. However, when she did turn around a minute later, Alice was no where to be seen. "Alice?" Lily called apprehensively. There was no reply.

"Alice?" she called again, her voice a little shaky. "This isn't funny." She looked around, and realized that Alice's robes were gone; she'd left her.

Fear beat the anger that was racing through her mind. Lily was somehow past the point where she could touch the bottom. Way past it. And with her robes on they're was no way that Lily was going to be able to swim.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

James had been dozing on and off for the last few hours, but after 6:45 he couldn't take it anymore. He got up, pulled on his robes, grabbed his broomstick, and headed out of Gryffindor Tower. On his way down he looked out a window and saw that he wasn't the only one up early: Phoenix and Lily were headed down to the lake. He watched them for a minute, and laughed as he saw Phoenix starting to strip off her clothes into her bikini; she always did that when she came over to his lake house.

He continued downstairs and got out the front door, then mounted his StarRider 260 and kicked off of the ground.

James loved to fly; that was his one way to escape from everything. He flew around the castle a few times, stopping once to bang loudly on his dormitory window. As he flew away he heard Sirius cursing quite loudly, and laughed. Once he got a safe distance out of reach of the window (and Sirius' wand), he stopped and admired the view. Hogwarts really was one of the most beautiful places he had ever seen.

Then suddenly, the thought of asking Lily out suddenly came charging back into his head. As pretty as she was, he wasn't really interested. And he had a feeling that she felt the same way he did.

His thoughts were pushed out of his head, however, as he heard a shriek of outrage. Alice had just tossed Lily into the lake, and jumped in after her. He laughed as Alice dunked her head under the water. Then Alice quietly snuck out, took her clothes and made a mad dash back into the castle, leaving Lily still in the lake pretending to be mad. After a few seconds, though, a strange look passed over her face and she disappeared into the murky water.

_Calm down, James_, he told himself sternly. _She's probably just looking around under the water._

Another few seconds passed, and she still had not come back up. _Oh. Crap. She can swim, right?_

Apparently not. James pointed his broom downward and appeared to be doing a nosedive into the lake, but he jumped off at the last second and arched into a perfect dive.

It didn't take long to find Lily. She was still relatively close to the surface. He grabbed her around the waist and pulled her to the surface, and she began to cough and sputter.

"Evans? Evans, are you okay?" James asked with concern.

She took another few seconds to catch her breath, before whispering weakly, "I think so."

He nodded and said, "Let's get you to the hospital wing."

She began to argue that she was fine, but he simply put his finger over her lips and told her to be quiet. Apparently too tired to argue, she just rested her head on his shoulder as he carried her out of the lake like she was a damsel in distress. Which, James thought amusedly, she pretty much was. And he knew she hated it.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Lily pretended to pout as James carried her back up to the school. Her emotions were very mixed up at the moment. She was mad at Alice for leaving her in the first place, since she knew she couldn't swim with robes on. She was mad at herself for not taking them off while the water was still shallow. She was drained from the adrenaline rush that had taken over when she realized she couldn't make it back up to the surface. She was mad at James for reasons that were unbeknownst to her. But mostly, she was extremely anooyed that James had become her knight in shining armor.

She had never admitted it to anyone, and doubted that she ever would, but Lily Evans had liked James Potter ever since First Year when he had teased her on the train for having red hair. And for some strange reason, she had liked him ever since.

_Lily smiled at her two new friends happily. She was so worried that no one would like her, like Petunia said, but then she met Remus Lupin and Alice Driscol._

"_Oh," Alice said suddenly, listening to voices outside the door. "My brother's coming, well this guy who's like my brother anyways, he lives near enough that whenever mum goes grocery shopping he comes running. I can introduce you." She slid open the compartment door and shouted, "Oi! Sirius! Come here!"_

_A minute later, two boys stepped through the doorway. They were both very tall and lean. The one that must have been Sirius had raven colored hair, the face that would soon be what every girl talked about, and the same mischievous sparkle in their bright silver eyes as Alice. He was just as cute as Lily was pretty. And that was very._

_The other boy, Sirius' friend, was also very cute – cuter even, in Lily's opinion. He had extremely messy jet-black hair that fell into his beautiful hazel eyes, glasses, and wore a lopsided grin on his face that Lily guessed never left._

"_Alright," Alice had said. "This is my Sirius and his friend… er…"_

"_James Potter," he supplied, and Phoenix nodded her head._

"_Right," she said. "James Potter. Well, Sirius and James Potter, these are my new friends Lily Evans and Remus Lupin."_

_James grinned as his eyes landed on Lily. "Well, would you look at this Sirius? We appear to have a carrot top in our midst." James said, gesturing to Lily's long dark red hair._

_Lily grinned up at him and said sarcastically, "Good observation, Captain Obvious."_

_Inside she was jumping up and down. The cute James boy had noticed her! YES! Maybe it was worth leaving all of her old friends behind after all… _

It was very confusing – James was just so… James. He was cocky, a bully, and besides Sirius, the biggest player in the school, but Lily had fallen for him anyway. And she hated it. She loved the way he would get that mischievous look in his bright hazel eyes when he was in dark corners with Sirius, Remus, Phoenix, and Peter, plotting their latest prank. She loved his hair, too; it was jet-black and extremely messy, and he was constantly ruffling it to make it look like he'd just gotten off of his broomstick. Part of her wanted to slap him for being such an egotistical jerk, but the other part unfortunately thought he was absolutely adorable.

Everywhere he went, his stupid "fan club" followed, making absolute fools of themselves trying to get his attention. And usually, it didn't work. Lily knew however, that if for some strange reason he asked her out, she would definitely say no. There was no way he would turn Lily into his next one week, I'm-Sorry-But-It's-Not-Working-Out relationship. Not a chance in hell.

"So Evans," he said suddenly, cutting into her thoughts, "can you not swim, or what?"

She reddened, as she usually did at the drop of a hat. "Well I can swim but not with robes on," she was already angry with him.

He laughed. "Really? That's so funny, I really thought you couldn't swim."

He received a hard emerald gaze as his response. "Actually, James, it's not, considering that I almost drowned."

"Until I saved you," he said, grinning cockily at her.

"Potter," she said in a warning voice.

"Hey, don't get an attitude with your savior," he said in a hurt voice.

"I appreciate you saving me. Really, I do. But I can walk to the Hospital Wing by myself, thank you." She thought for a moment. "Actually, I don't even need to go to the Hospital Wing. Now if you'll just let me down –"

He interrupted her laughing. "Evans, you aren't going anywhere. I am carrying you to the Hospital Wing, whether you like it or not."

For a moment she considered struggling, but she knew there would be no point. He was a lot bigger than her. She sighed. She was trying to get over him, not like him more. Curses! Why did he have to be sweet, damn it!

He carried her through the still sleeping school in silence, and at last they reached the Hospital Wing. James just pushed open the door without even knocking, and walked inside.

"Madame Pomfrey?" he called. Madame Pomfrey was the young new nurse at Hogwarts, and was very sweet. For the time being, at least.

She came bustling out in her night robe and sleeping cap, and looked at them in alarm. Lily imagined that the pair of them must have looked pretty awful; they were both completely soaked, and Lily was as pale as death.

"What in the world happened to you two?" she asked incredulously.

Setting Lily down on the nearest bed, James said, "I'm fine. It's her you need to look at. She almost drowned in the lake."

"Potter, I told you, I'm fine. Can I go back to my room now?" Lily whined.

"No, not until I've checked you over, dear. What were you doing swimming in the lake so early anyway?" Madame Pomfrey asked, while feeling Lily's forehead.

James, seeing an opportunity to escape, quietly slid out the door, leaving a very angry Lily being poked and prodded. She sighed. Today just wasn't her day.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

"It worked perfectly," Alice giggled excitedly. Her blue eyes sparkled with humor.

"Did it now?" Remus asked, not bothering to look up from his essay since he had no bloody idea what she was talking about.

"Yup. I saw James hovering above us, so I left. Obviously Lily would start to drown and then James would save her and –"

"What? Start to drown?" Remus questioned furiously.

"Yeah. No one can swim with robes on, you know that."

"Why would you leave her if you knew she couldn't swim?" Remus demanded.

"I already told you. I knew James was right there and that he would save her."

"And why did you want James to save her?"

She looked around the common room, checking to make sure that no one was in hearing range, and said, "Well, besides me, you're her best friend, so I don't think she'd care if I told you this. Although you probably already know…" She trailed off, thinking.

"Know what?"

"Isn't it obvious? She likes James, and is refusing to admit it to herself, she'd probably be better off if she just spent some time with him."

Remus felt like he had just been punched in the gut. Even though Lily was his best friend, and it was kind of an unwritten rule not to like your best friend, he did. Since First Year, actually, when he met her on the train.

_Remus sighed as he sat in his compartment alone. Great, he thought. Another place where people can reject me because of my problem. Maybe I shouldn't have come after all…_

_His thoughts were interrupted as there was a knock on the door and it slid open. A very short, pretty girl stood in the opening and asked, "Do you mind if I sit here? There are no more compartments."_

_Remus just nodded, unable to say anything. She had to be the prettiest girl he'd ever seen. She was short, probably around 4'9", had waist-length dark red hair, perfectly straight white teeth, smooth cream colored skin, and emerald green eyes that sparkled and seemed to jump out at you. That was it, he decided. It was the eyes. They were the most intense green he had ever seen, and reflecedt the kindness she seemed to possess. _

_The girl sat down across from him, and sent him another smile that made his heart race._

"_Hi, I'm Lily Evans," she said, extending her hand._

"_I'm Remus Lupin," he replied, shaking it._

"_Are you a First Year?" she asked._

"_Yeah. You?"_

"_Yep. I was so excited when I got my letter. I'm a muggleborn, so I was very surprised, of course, but I really wanted to come. I hear it's the best wizarding school there is."_

"_Yeah, it is," Remus said, trying to form a full sentence in his mind. That emerald gaze of hers knocked the wind out of him. "My dad's a wizard and my mum's a muggle, so they weren't really surprised when I got my letter."_

_The two of them talked for the next hour, until Lily excused herself to go buy some candy._

_Hmm, Remus thought to himself watching her walk out. Maybe it was a good thing that I came here after all…_

Remus just stared in front of him. He had no idea something could hurt this badly. "How long has she liked him?" he managed to ask.

Alice looked thoughtful. "Well, I'm not quite sure. I've thought so since First Year, but…"

Remus didn't hear any more. Getting up from his chair, he said, "You know what? I think I'm going to go find Lily. I'll talk to you later."

And with that said, he got up and walked out of the common room, leaving a very confused Alice.


	2. Chapter 2

**All right, guys, here's chapter 2. To any of you who may have read this before I deleted it, I am switching the story up a bit from last time. I hope you all liked the first chapter, and please remember to leave a review! **

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Lily groaned as Madam Pomfrey began poking and prodding her again. She was so sure that last time she stopped, she would leave her alone, but the woman seemed like she wanted to find something wrong with her. First she had prodded her with her wand, then made her take a steaming ten minute shower, drink a mug of hot chocolate, and had begun questioning her again.

"Madam Pomfrey," Lily said, narrowly avoiding another hard poke in the stomach. "Can I go now? Really, I feel fine."

She gave her a hard glance. "Are you sure?"

"Positive. I'm absolutely right as rain!" To prove this, Lily gave her the biggest smile she could manage without breaking her jaw.

"Well… I suppose if you feel better-"

"Thanks, Madam Pomfrey! Bye!" Lily said, cutting the woman off and practically sprinting out of the Hospital Wing.

When she was a safe distance away from the madwoman, she slowed and took a deep breath, then glanced at her watch. _Damn_, she thought bitterly. _I was so sure I missed History of Magic._ It was only 8:30, which gave her plenty of time to eat breakfast, go tell off Phoenix, and then get to History of Magic before Professor Binns even got there.

Sighing, she set off towards the Great Hall.

She was almost there when she saw Remus walking in the opposite direction.

"Remus, where are you going?" she asked him.

He looked up and smiled when he saw her. "I was looking for you actually."

She raised an eyebrow. "Really? Were you going to ask me about this morning, or do you not know what happened?"

"I know what happened, actually. Alice told me all about it." Lily could have sworn she saw some sadness enter his eyes when he said that.

"What did she tell you?"

"She told me you were drowning in the lake and James saved you. Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Potter wouldn't have had to rescue me either if Alice hadn't left me. I can't believe her! She knows I can't swim!"

"Um, Lily? Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Aren't we already talking?" Lily teased.

He grinned at her. "I meant could we take a walk around the lake?"

"Sure. Just let me grab some toast."

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

After Lily got her toast (with strawberry jelly, of course), the two best friends headed down by the lake. They walked a good distance around it, then found a shady tree and sat down.

"Okay, Moony, what's up?" Lily asked, using a name she'd learned from Sirius and Alice.

"Well, I was talking to Alice, and um, she had an um interesting thought about you."

Lily raised an eyebrow. "And what would that be?"

Remus hesitated for a moment. This could go two ways: One, Lily could go completely ballistic and go hunt down Alice for spreading such a rumor, or Two, Lily could break down and admit she liked James. Or there was a Third option: Lily could break down and admit she liked James, and then go hunt down Alice for spreading such a rumor. Selfishly, Remus was hoping for Number One.

"Alice thinks that, well… that you like James."

She smiled. "Is that all? I'm warming up to James of course; he did save my life this morning."

Remus sighed. "Not like _that_."

Comprehension dawned in her brilliant green eyes. "She said _what?_ Is she mad? Where would she get that idea?"

"I dunno," Remus said shrugging, relief warming him on the inside. Lily didn't like James – there was some hope left in the world.

"James? Are you serious?" Lily laughed, hoping she wouldn't give herself away. She just wasn't ready to tell Remus that yet. After all, James was one of his best mates, and that would just be kind of awkward.

"Yeah, that's what I thought when Alice told me that," Remus said, smiling widely.

Something suddenly occurred to Lily. "Wait. Phoenix didn't say that to anyone else, did she?"

Remus shrugged.

"I'll kill her!" she shouted, and immediately ran back to the castle.

Remus laughed. "Alice is a dead woman."

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

"Oi! Jamesie!" Sirius called from across the Common Room, and ran over to him.

"What?" James asked. He wasn't really paying attention. He was too busy thinking, and his thoughts were pretty much this: _How the **hell** am I going to get Lily Evans to go out with me?_

"Any luck with Evans yet?" he asked grinning.

"No. Unless you think saving her life counts."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, your weirdo friend tried to drown her this morning and I saved her," James shrugged.

"Alice? As in, my childhood buddy? As in, Lily's best friend, Alice? As in-"

"YES, Sirius, that Alice!" James exclaimed. "How many other Alice's do you know exactly?"

"Well…" Sirius started.

"Oh shut up," James said irritably.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Alice screamed as she ran out of the Great Hall.

"Alice Isabella Howard! Get back here!" shouted a voice behind her angrily.

Her response for this was to speed up. She peeked behind her and her pursuer had sped up also. Damn that girl was fast.

People stopped in surprise as they ran by, quickly jumping out of their way.

"Alice! I'm going to kill you!"

Alice shrieked again as she was finally caught. "Lily – Lily, breathe. Don't be mad."

She thought Lily's green eyes were going to pop she was so upset. Lily pointed into a deserted classroom. "You. In there. Now."

Alice obliged, mostly because she was terrified of her best friend when she got like this. And she had seen it before.

"What the hell is wrong with you? First you leave me in the lake to drown, and then you tell Remus that I like James Potter?!"

"Well, don't you?" Alice asked, wiggling her eyebrows.

"No!"

"Yes you do."

"No I don't!"

"Yes you do."

"No I don't!"

"Yes. You. Do."

"No. I. Don't!"

"Do."

"Don't!"

"Do."

"DON'T!"

Alice looked at her hard in the eye. "Yes, Lily Marie Evans, you do. I know you better than anyone else, except maybe Remus. You DO like him, and you need to admit it."

Lily however, didn't back down. "Well, even if – and this is hypothetically, mind you – I did like him, it isn't your place to go around telling people. You told Remus! Why? I would have when I was ready. And did you tell anyone else? Because I swear I will kill you right now."

" Well, on that note," Alice said sarcastically. "I had to tell Remus because of the plan. And, no, I didn't tell anyone else. Your overwhelming confidence in me is touching."

"Wait. What plan?"

"Wellll, when we were at the lake this morning, I saw James flying around, so I figured I'd leave you, he'd save you, you'd admit your undying love for each other, and everyone would go home happy."

"Wait. He likes me?"

"Um… I dunno about that one. Maybe. I was just guessing."

Lily didn't say anything.

"Well… don't you feel better now that you've admitted it?" Alice asked in her best I-Knew-I-Was-Right voice.

Lily blew up at her. "I haven't admitted anything! I bloody well told you that was hypothetical!" With that she stormed out of the classroom and gave an angry shriek in the middle of the hall.

Alice followed her out the door, smiled and shook her head at the confused students around her. "She is so in denial," she told them brightly, and continued on her way.

JAMES P.O.V.

Forty minutes later, James and Sirius were on the hunt. The Evans hunt.

"Alright James, this is it. Go for it," Sirius coaxed when they found her.

They were crouched behind the bookshelves in front of Lily's usual table in the library, where she looked extremely mad.

"Are you sure? She looks pretty mad about something," James observed doubtfully.

"Do you want to win the bet?" Sirius asked.

"Yeah."

"Then go!" Sirius said, and pushed him out.

Lily looked up in surprise from her homework as she saw him.

"Er… hey Evans – I mean, Lily."

"Hey um, James," she said, obviously catching on that they were using first names.

He motioned toward the empty chair across from her. "Can I sit here?"

"Sure," she said shrugging, and went back to her book.

James sucked in his breath. "So… feel better?"

"Yup," she replied, not looking up from her parchment.

"That's good," he said, trying to break the awkward silence. "Hey Evans? Er, sorry, I mean Lily?"

She looked up, her green eyes flashing. She was obviously still very upset about something.

"Are you okay? You seem kind of upset."

"What? Oh, yeah, I'm fine." She sent him a rare smile. "It's just Alice. You know. The usual."

James did know. The two of them bickered constantly but they were still best friends. "That's kind of funny, isn't it?" James asked suddenly.

"What?"

"That both of our best friends are best friends."

"Yeah."

He surprised her again with his next question. "Are we friends?"

She looked up at him confused. "Um… I suppose."

"Lily?"

"Yes?"

"I have something to ask you."

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Remus walked past the library feeling better all the time. Until he looked inside. Lily was sitting with James and she looked rather flushed, Remus's heart pounded as he saw his best mate lean over the girl he'd been pining for.

In an effort to get away the werewolf knocked over a girl whose hair appeared to changing color. "I'm so sorry, I'm always bumping into things," Remus felt his throat constrict. She was a pretty fourth year who always seemed to be moving and had a lot of friends. A distant cousin of Sirius' actually.

"Tonks, Nymphadora actually, my mum had an odd sense of humor,"

"Remus Lupin, " He was blushing something awful now.

"Ohh, you're friends with Sirius then are you?"

"Yeah, he's one of my best friends actually,"

"You're Moony, the smart, calm, quiet, NICE one,"

He'd never been complimented by a girl except for Lily and at the last adjective he thought his head might spin right off of his shoulders. "Yep, that's me," Why couldn't he think of something cool to say????

"I'll see you around then Remmy, yeah?"

Remmy, she already had a name for him. Not that he liked it very much………


	3. Chapter 3

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

"Okay," Lily said. "What's up?"

James took a deep breath and shocked her with his question: "Lily… will you go out with me?"

Her green eyes widened in shock. James Potter, the one who constantly mocked and ridiculed her, was asking her out? What? "What did you just say to me?"

"I said, will you go out with me?" He waited expectantly for a response.

Lily sucked in her breath. Maybe Alice was right… maybe James did like her!

"Are you serious?" she asked him. She didn't want to say 'yes' and make a fool of herself because it was some big joke.

"No, I'm James, not Sirius."

Lily glared at him. That joke was _way_ overused.

"Yes, I'm serious," he finally answered.

"Um… I dunno James… can I think about it and tell you later?" she asked. She was still too shocked to even think straight.

"Sure," he said brightly, and got up. "Talk to you later, Lily-Bean."

"Hey! Don't call me that!" she exclaimed. He turned and just smiled his lopsided grin at her. They had started calling her that after a Herbology incident in first year, which Lily was not going into details about. Though she supposed it _was_ a cute nickname…

Lily watched James as he walked out. He did something very odd. He stopped for a moment at the bookshelf in front of her table and gave a wink. Was he winking at the books? Lily wondered. No, of course not. That was stupid. Someone was probably there spying on them. Her temper flaring up once again, she got up and walked quietly to the bookshelf, where she saw a dark-haired boy trying to get away without being seen.

"SIRIUS BLACK!" Lily yelled, stopping him in his tracks. She received and annoyed look from Madam Pince that clearly said Shut Up, Now.

He turned to face her. "Oh, hello Evans. Fancy meeting you here."

"Save it, Black. Why were you spying on us?"

Apparently he decided to play dumb. "Spying? Moi? No, I was simply looking for a book."

Lily put her hands on her hips. "Out of the magazine section specializing on 'How to Get Your Man?'" she asked, trying to suppress a grin.

He faltered for a moment, and then grabbed a copy of _Witch Weekly_. "Yeah, of course! Who _hasn't_ read that article?" he asked incredulously.

"I thought you were looking for a _book_."

"Eh. Book, magazine, same difference."

Lily narrowed her eyes. "Black, save it, you're coming with me. We're going on a little walk," she said, grabbing his ear and dragging him out of the library behind her, ignoring his "Ow, ow, ow, ow…" Some members of the Marauder's Fan Club gasped in outrage, but knowing Lily's reputation and seeing her face, said nothing. Sirius groaned. James was definitely going to owe him for this one.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

"Alright Black, talk," Lily Evans said as she sat him down under the beech tree next to the lake.

"What would you like to know, Madam?" Sirius asked, blinking up at her.

"I would like to know what the hell you were doing listening to our conversation."

"I told you, I was getting the magazine -"

"Sirius, unless there's something about your sexuality you've been withholding from us, I don't think you'd be getting that article."

Sirius thought quickly. "How do you know I wasn't getting it for Alice?"

Lily laughed, "Sirius, you're always trying to keep her away from boys, not trying to lead them to her!"

"True," Sirius agreed. He was very overprotective of his childhood friend.

"So what's really going on?"

"I – I can't tell you that."

"I already know," Lily told him, a mischievous grin on her face that was eerily similar to one James got sometimes.

"What? You know about the bet?" he asked, shocked. "How?"

"I don't like to give away my sources," she said coolly. "But why?"

"…Well, I made it originally with James. I didn't think you'd go out with him, so I got him to ask you out to see."

"What does the loser have to do?"

"Pay fifty galleons."

"Fifty galleons? _Fifty galleons_? That's what I'm worth?"

"Are you flattered?" he asked.

She slapped him. "No, you moron, I should very well think I'd be worth more than that!"

"Women…" Sirius muttered, rubbing his cheek.

Lily started to walk away, then turned and said, "By the way, thanks for the info, Sirius. I'll be sure to tell Potter who my source is."

"What? You _didn't _know about it?"

"No. But I figured if I pretended to, you'd tell me." She walked away, turning back once to wave sarcastically to him.

Sirius shook his head. "She'd make a good Marauder!" he said, laughing at the mere thought of Lily Evans hanging out with them. As if that would happen.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Alice walked down a random hallway, lost in thought. Her friends were so confusing. Lily liked James, James didn't like Lily but he asked her out anyway, Sirius was having a different relationship every three days, and Remus liked somebody but she couldn't figure out who it was. And frankly, she didn't give a damn about Peter's non-existent love life. That little twit had annoyed her since the first day she met him. Plus there was Frank Longbottom, pretty boy sixth year, a little clumsy, a little awkward, and absolutely perfect.

Oh yeah. There was also the fact that she had been pretty sure she liked Remus. As if their lives weren't complicated enough, just the other day Frank had started talking to her.

She wasn't sure why she liked him, though. Alice had liked a few boys in the past, but did nothing for fear that Sirius would kill them when he found out. She knew she was certainly pretty enough to get a boyfriend – she was very slim, average height, had long shiny dark hair and big sparkling silver eyes. But she had basically lost interest in boys for a while, because she knew nothing would ever happen.

But today she had been talking to Frank, and had randomly thought, _Whoa, he's pretty cute when he's thinking about things._ He furrowed his eyebrows together and a dreamy look passed into his kind brown eyes. Now Alice wasn't sure what to do. She was supposed to think these things about Remus, then it would be perfect, she and Lily would be going out with best friends. She supposed she should go find Lily and talk to her about it.

She set off towards the library where she figured Lily would be, and checked her usual table. She wasn't there. _Damn it Lily, why do you have to change your patterns now?_

She was walking back to the Common Room when she saw Lily walking from the opposite direction, twirling her long red hair angrily. That's how you could always tell when Lily was mad. She twirled her hair around her finger.

"I need to talk to you!" they both said in unison, and laughed.

They walked into their dormitory and sat down on their respective beds, which were right next to each other.

"Alright, Lils, you first," Alice said.

Lily took a deep breath. "Al, your "brother" and Potter are the biggest prats on the planet!"

"I know…" Alice said sighing sadly.

"Do you know what they did? Potter only asked me out because your brother made a bet with him!"

"James asked you out?!"

"Yeah."

"What'd you say?"

"That I'd talk to him later about it."

"What are you going to do now?"

"Kick his ass."

"Good plan."

"Alright, that's settled," Lily said. "What's up with you?"

"I think I like someone."

"WHAT? Really?" Lily asked excitedly.

"Yeah."

"Who?"

"Um…" She muttered something inaudible.

"What'd you say?"

Alice blushed. "No! I'm not gonna tell you!"

"Al…" Lily moaned. "Please? Pretty please? Come on!"

"No! You'll laugh at me…"

"No I wouldn't! Come on, just tell me."

"Fine," Phoenix said, glaring at her. "Frank………Longbottom."

Lily screamed and jumped up. "Really?! I'm so excited! He probably likes you back too because of the way that he-"

"Lily, no! I can't tell if I like him because he's talking to me or what…"

"Alright," Lily said, sighing a little as she started for the stairs. "Now if you'll excuse me, I believe that there are two black haired boys downstairs that need their asses kicked."

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

**Okay, so what do you think? Do you like it? Hate it? Any ideas for future chapters? Let me know:) thanks to everyone who reviews, and to everyone is going to……..**


	4. Chapter 4

Alright, this is the first chapter that I've written all on my own, the rest I just edited, so if it's a bit different that's why. Tell me what you think please.

James Potter could not believe it. He had been rejected, and by a girl like Lily Evans no less. That had to have been the first time something like that happened to him.

"_It's a strange, strange world," _ He thought this as he lay in bed, it was probably around 5:30 the next morning and their was no way that he was falling back asleep. There was also no way that James was paying Sirius, he was not going to give up that easy.

"James, why are you awake?" A groggy Remus rolled over to see his friend sitting up looking lost in thought. "You know she rejected me," his voice sounded almost as pitiful as he felt..

"You only told me like six times at dinner last night,"

"Don't even talk to me about dinner, Lily was supposed to have gotten back to me by then, but instead she spent the entire time whispering furiously with Alice and shooting me death glares,"

""Sorry mate, maybe somehow she found out it was a bet, I mean I know Lily pretty well and you have just about the same chance as a snowball in hell to get her to go out with you if she knows you're making money off it,"

"You can be my in then, you'll spew goodness about me whenever the two of you are together and-" The look on Remus' face was enough for even James Potter to stop. "Whoops, you like her don't you…"

"I did," Remus shook his head slowly his shaggy hair moving from side to side, "But today I met someone, of please James just let me talk about a girl just this once,"

"Oh alright, lets talk about you for a change,"

"She wonderful, I think she is the kind of person that can transform at will, maybe she won't mind that I can transform too," a dark look flitted across his face. "Anyways, I almost knocked her down today, I swear I was acting as clumsy as Frank Longbottom and she was so nice about it. I think that she is a cousin of Sirius',"

"One of his nutty Slytherin ones eh?" James raised an eyebrow, he knew about Sirius' family tree.

"No, Tonks, she's umm, a fourth year and a Gryffindor at that, she has such a nice smile," Remus stared dreamily off out the window.

"Someone's in love," James sang happily, if he hadn't found happiness at least his best mate could.

"Whatever," Remus blushed, "Back to Lily, she is my friend you know, I cannot have you making her the girl for this week or another, if she says yes you'd better not fool around,"

"Me, fool around? Never," James made his most innocent face hoping that Remus wouldn't remember that he'd just dumped another girl the week before.

"All I'm saying is I don't want her getting hurt,"

"Oh all right, nothing will ever happen to your precious Lily-Bean," With that James rolled over deciding that he should at least pretend to be asleep for the next hour or so.

In the girls dormitories a very similar conversation was being held. "Ally, it was a bet, I'm only worth 50 galleons," Lily wailed this miserably looking at her friend with a most unhappy face. "So you've said," Alice replied dryly, this conversation had been held many times in the past day. "But I actually considered saying yes, I'm so stupid, why on earth would James Potter like me?"

"Stop it Lily, stop it this instant, I cannot have you acting like this, what happened to the girl who was going to kick his ass? Come on, you're better than that, he's the stupid one not you!"

"Yeah, but now what am I supposed to do?" Lily whined as she rolled over onto her back. She was much weaker in the morning hours when her feminist side had not yet kicked in, "You know I've liked the prat since first year…"

"I'll remember that the next time you deny it,"

"He's so infuriating sometimes though, how am I supposed to get back at him? He's always the one making me angry,"

"Well, you could lead him on only to reject him…"

"I don't want him thinking that he has the upper hand, not even for a little while,"

"You could confront him about it,"

"He'll smile at me and I'll forget what I'm going to say and why I'm mad,"

"You're hopeless then sorry,"

"Alice," Lily was whining again.

"Fine, just ignore him, don't give him anything not even your anger,"

"Do you honestly think that will work?"

"What does James Potter really have, nothing, but no one refuses him anything, and I bet you're the first girl to reject him. Any other girl would fall to her knees just to get the chance to talk to him. That's not you, show him that,"

"You're brilliant, except I still like him,"

"Oh details, you're a big girl don't let it get in the way,"

"I'll try," Lily turned to face her friend with a knowing smile on her face, "I saw you talking to Frank today, does the way you were looking at him mean that you are over the Remster?"

"Don't call him that, it's so weird. Yes, okay, so I maybe sort of kind of like Frank instead, but don't get any big ideas, why would he go out with me?"

"Here you are telling me **I **have an inferiority complex, he is probably already rehearsing what he's going to say to you when he asks you out tonight,"

"Oh, and what makes you think he is going to do it tonight?"

"There is a Hogmede trip in two days and yesterday he asked me if you preferred the three broomsticks or Madam Pudifoots,"

"And what pray tell did you say?"

"Madam Pudifoots," Lily laughed at the look of horror on her friends face.

"You know that the three broomsticks is my favorite pub," Alice cried indignantly and then stopped to realize exactly who and what they were talking about. "He actually asked you that?!"

"Would I lie to you?"

"No I suppose not, but maybe he was just kidding," Alice paled, "What if Sirius put him up to it? A great prank to play on his best friend,"

"Remember, I'm the one that your bosom buddy likes to play pranks on, you're the one he plans them with,"

"Not so much anymore, there isn't very much room for a girl with the marauders,"

"Yeah," Lily was quiet for a moment as she nibbled thoughtfully on the inside of her thumb. "I guess the two of you aren't as close as you used to be, well I'm going to get back to bed, we've got a test in potions today and I don't want to fail,"

"Like you've ever failed anything," Alice mumbled as she flipped onto her side in an attempt to get a little bit more sleep.

**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo**

"Lily-Bean, fancy seeing you here," James approached his target with a smile that was probably too large to be real.

"Really," she replied coolly, making an effort not to look into his eyes, "I would have thought that you would have been expecting me," she surveyed the room her eyes cut across James, "Seeing as we're at **breakfast**!"

"Hmmmm, anyhow I'm wondering if you might have an answer for me,"

"An answer?" she asked her voice a mask of innocence.

"To a question I asked you an important one…" James eyes betrayed how uneasy he was feeling.

"Well, I can't seem to remember anything important ever coming out of **your** mouth," Alice felt like cheering, Lily was doing much better than she could have imagined.

"Fine," a smile eased onto James' face, "Lily, go out with me,"

"No, I don't take orders from smarmy little boys thanks,"

"Have it your way Evans, refuse me, but I'm not giving up on you. You realize that don't you?"

"I'm not realizing anything, anyways Alice and I have some business to attend to, so if you don't mind we can discuss how it feels to be rejected later, alright Potter? Ta," with that Lily walked away leaving a rather shell-shocked James and a whooping Sirius.


End file.
